ALLY McCOIST doesn’t have a clue who’ll be wearing the Rangers jersey when he oversees the rebirth of the blues as a league club on August 11. But at least he knows where they’ll be playing.

Balmoor, Peterhead. Capacity 4000. Had Stranraer been travelling the length of the country to go there, as would be happening under usual circumstances, there wouldn’t have been a quarter of that figure inside the ground.

Now, unless there is another twist in the tale, Balmoor will be bursting at the seams as Rangers begin life as a Third Division club.

A week later, Rangers will play East Stirling – average attendance last season 321 – at Ibrox in their first home league game of the season. Next two away games? Berwick Rangers and Annan Athletic. New Year fixture? Back to Annan on January 2.

Before that, it will be Station Park, Forfar or Glebe Park, Brechin in the Ramsden Cup on July 28, followed by a first-round League Cup tie on August 4, the draw for which will be made on Tuesday,

This is Rangers’ reality. This is where the years of mismanagement, leading to administration then liquidation, have washed them up. Peterhead away, on the same day Celtic play Real Madrid in Philadelphia.

But yesterday the Ibrox club accepted their fate, although it remains to be seen if the SFA and SPL, who desperately lobbied for them to be placed in the First Division, do so as well.

The 30 Scottish Football League clubs who voted overwhelmingly to put Rangers into the Third Division refused to buckle to what some of them argued was bullying and blackmail.

They still want league reconstruction, play-off systems and a fairer distribution of funds but they were not willing to sacrifice what they consider to be the cornerstone of their organisation – sporting fairness – in order to get them.

And when the time came to tell Rangers owner Charles Green and manager McCoist of their decision, it was taken in a stoic manner, SFL chief executive David Longmuir insisted.

He said: “We’ve had dealings with Mr Green and his organisation and he’s been consistent with us from day one. We’ve no reason to think he’s not acting in the best interests of his club.

“We invited them back in at the end and explained the SFL has accepted them as members in the Third Division. They accepted that and went out the door with their heads held high.”

The wailing and gnashing of teeth from SPL clubs who have seen millions wiped off their budgets with the outcome – despite the fact they left the SFL with the decision by throwing Rangers out in the first place – could be heard from the Highlands to the central belt.

Monday’s annual general meeting of the SPL now carries huge significance.

If the top flight and the SFA push for the creation of an SPL 2, which would include Rangers, the SFL believe their recruitment campaign will flounder.

Longmuir said: “The message we sent today to everyone is, really there isn’t any price for sporting fairness.

“Twenty-nine out of 30 clubs voted in favour of the Rangers Football Club becoming an associate member and on the second resolution to put them to either the First or the Third, 25 clubs voted in favour of the Third option.

“The balancing act was the cash value of sporting fairness versus the cash value of the sporting economy. I think you can recover from financial failure but it is very difficult when you start hindering the process of fairness.

“I think it was a clear statement from the First Division clubs they are looking for a 42-team solution to taking the game forward in the best interests of the game. The SFL have been at the forefront of trying to engage change in Scottish football and we will not change that mission.

“That’s our aim. We want to see refreshment, innovation. We want to see play-offs, we want better governance and to see a better distribution of funds throughout the game.

“That does not alter but on the specific issue faced with today, it was a very clear statement that sporting fairness is at the root of the SFL.”

Longmuir is adamant clubs in his organisation will survive the financial implications of yesterday’s vote as they have grown used to cutting their cloth.

He added: “We have to look at the football economy. It may shrink as a result of us being allowed to put Rangers into the Third Division.

“Everybody in the Scottish Football League has been faced with these problems for many years – how to survive, how to make ends meet when you are dealing with community clubs when fan bases are dwindling – and commercial incomes at our level have been difficult to keep up.

“We want to put Scottish football back in a favourable light with investors again and that is something we’ll continue to be committed to.”

SFL president Jim Ballantyne believes league reconstruction has to remain on the agenda because only this week the SPL and SFA were extolling the virtues of change.

The Airdrie chairman said: “We still intend to pursue the other aspects with regard to reconstruction.

“If it was regarded for the good of the game yesterday it should still be for the good of the game tomorrow.

“The fact the SFL clubs have decided it’s the Third Division rather than the First shouldn’t make a great deal of difference.

“We still intend to work with the other bodies to deliver the change everyone is crying out for. We need to be focused on that for the next four weeks.

“The last thing we need is more squabbling . That’s why I was heartened by the position of our member clubs. They want any reconstruction to be a 42-club solution and that’s the way it should be.

“The issue today was to do the right thing and our clubs stepped up to the plate. They will have surprised many people.

“The SPL took a brave decision by not allowing Rangers entry into the top-flight and this decision today is every bit as brave.

“It was done because it was the right thing to do.”

And the Airdrie chief reiterated Longmuir’s assertion Rangers accepted their decision with good grace.

Ballantyne added: “Charles Green spoke before the vote but there was no plea either way whatsoever.

“They made it clear they wanted to play football, that they would be honoured to become a member of the Scottish Football League and whatever league the clubs decided to put them in they’d accept 100 per cent.

“They set the tone for the meeting. If it was First or Third they would get on with it and that would be the end of the matter.”